


In Dreams

by VeraBAdler



Series: October 2018 challenges [23]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Hell Trauma, M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 15:37:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16390445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VeraBAdler/pseuds/VeraBAdler
Summary: Hell doesn't let Dean Winchester go without a fight, but Cas will fight as hard as necessary.Fictober prompt: “This is not new, it only feels like it.”Promptober prompt: Matrix





	In Dreams

The noise is unimaginable – the shrieks of the damned, the taunts of the torturers, the wet sounds of tearing flesh. It's every nightmare made horrifying and real, an unholy din. The air is red with brimstone and blood, a stench so poisonous and thick it's visible to the eye. The heat is malignant; the ground he stands on scorches his feet. It's... It's Hell. He's in Hell. He's been in Hell for as long as he can remember and he'll stay in Hell for the rest of eternity. He adjust his grip on the blade and goes back to carving at the body on the rack in front of him.

There's no sense of the passage of time here, where nothing ever changes and nothing ever will.

And then there's a light, and it's clean and bright and it pushes at the darkness of Hell, forces it back ahead of itself as it moves. The light comes closer, and it's blinding, and Dean is afraid. He's so afraid. He shrinks down into himself, kneels on the burning ground and throws his arms over his head and tries to hide from the light. But the light knows his name.

“ _DEAN_ ,” the light booms, and the burning ground shakes. Dean whimpers and curls himself tighter around his own knees, his eyes screwed shut, his mouth twisted in terror.

The light is nearer to him now. It's warm, but it's a gentle warmth, like spring sunshine. Against the sweltering heat of Hell, the warmth of the light feels paradoxically refreshing. The light speaks again, closer, softer. “ _Beloved_ ,” it says.

“Oh,” Dean thinks then. “It's not talking to me. I'm no one's love.” And he waits for the light to pass by.

Instead the light surrounds him, cradles him. “Dean,” it whispers inside his head. “You know me. This is not new, it only feels like it. You're not in Hell. Not any more. Wake up.”

“C-Cas?” He doesn't even know what the word means, but it's the only word he can think to say. The blade falls to the burning ground beside him, and he reaches his blood-soaked hands into the center of the light. When he draws them back, they're clean.

“Yes, my love. It's me. You're safe. Wake up.”

Something is touching him, delicate brushes of silk against his scarred back. It's been so many decades since he's felt tenderness. He leans into that soft contact, puts all of his focus on it, and then he's in his bed in the Bunker. It's dark and warm. Cas is holding him close in his wings and he's stroking his fingers through Dean's hair.

“There you are, love. I'm here. You're safe,” the angel murmurs.

Dean rubs at his eyes and realizes his cheeks are wet with tears. He takes a deep breath, holds it, lets it back out with a whoosh. “Fuck,” he says with his hands covering his face. “That was a rough one. Thanks for coming in to get me again.”

Cas continues to run his fingers along Dean's scalp. “I'll pull you out of Hell whenever you need me, Dean. You haven't had a nightmare that bad in a long time, though. Maybe we should reconsider the sort of movies we watch at bedtime.”

“Ugh, yeah, I guess. Okay, no more horror flicks after dark. Hey, have you seen _The Matrix_?”

“I was thinking more along the lines of _The Princess Diaries_ from here on out.”

“...Fine.”

**Author's Note:**

> Rebloggable link for this fic on tumblr is [here](https://blessyourhondahurley.tumblr.com/post/179361708821/october-23-in-dreams-verabadler-supernatural).


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